Authority
by somehowunbroken
Summary: Written for hc bingo on lj: 'character is shown the error of his ways.' Sumner, Sheppard, O'Neill, not slash.


"A word, General."

Jack stopped in his tracks and turned. Hell. He'd been hoping that he would be able to avoid Sumner until the man disappeared through the Gate to Atlantis. Looked like today wouldn't be his lucky day after all.

"Colonel Sumner!" he said brightly, stepping towards the man and clapping him on the back, knowing it would annoy him. "What can I do for you?"

Sumner scowled at him. "I'd appreciate it if you can explain what _this_ is doing on my mission." He shoved a file at Jack, who took it without batting an eye. He didn't have to look at any of the papers inside to know what he'd been handed.

"So you got the new personnel roster," he said, nodding. "Good. I wasn't sure if Walter had been able to get your copy ready. I shouldn't have doubted him. He's a good man, Walter."

Sumner nearly growled out loud. Jack could practically see the anger rolling off of him in waves. "I passed him over specifically, General."

"You've been overruled, " Jack informed him

"By you." Sumner's eyes narrowed.

"Pretty much," Jack agreed.

Sumner's jaw clenched and unclenched a few times. "Might I ask why? Sir," he almost spat.

"Ask away," Jack replied. He waited a beat, then added, "Oh, you were asking. Right. Weir wanted him, I talked him into it because I like her, and he's now your problem."

"I'd like to appeal the decision-"

"Overruled." Jack frowned at the man. Really, Sheppard seemed like a good enough guy underneath the black mark in his record. He'd be an asset to the expedition, if he could learn to take an order or two. Sumner, however, seemed like a Marine through and through, no sense of humor and… angry, Jack decided. He'd list "angry" as a permanent character trait of Sumner's rather than a temporary emotion.

"Have you talked to him yet?" Jack asked instead of pointing out the giant stick up Sumner's ass. If he wasn't aware of it on his own by now, Jack wasn't going to help him find it.

"No," Sumner growled out. "I'd like to take every opportunity to boot him out of the Atlantis mission before I have to talk to him."

Jack leveled a glare at Sumner. It seemed a little judgmental of the man to have such a strong opinion about Sheppard before even talking to him. Jack found a kind of delicious irony in Sumner's balking about Sheppard because of a few disobeyed orders when Sumner himself was skirting insubordination in regards to the man.

"Consider all of your opportunities exhausted," Jack said.

"General…"

"Colonel," Jack hated using his command voice, he really did, but authoritative types responded best to a little authority themselves, or so he'd found. "This isn't debate team. Suck it up."

So maybe his command voice needed work.

Sumner, however, was scowling even deeper. He ground out a harsh "Yes, sir," and snapped off a crisp salute that had less to do with respect and more with the sarcasm he probably didn't realize he was showing through. Or maybe he did. Jack frowned and decided, not for the first time, that he didn't like working with Marine officers in general, and had a special vat of dislike for one Marshall Sumner. The man was, in a word, ridiculously stubborn.

Jack frowned again, then mentally shrugged. That was two words. Oh well.

"If that's all…" Jack let the sentence hang and gave Sumner a lazy salute. Sumner turned crisply on his heel and stalked away. The tension was running through him like a current. Jack blew out a breath as Sumner turned a corner and disappeared from view. That was one man he wouldn't mind losing to another galaxy.

-0-

"General?" The voice was questioning, slightly drawled, and Jack looked up from his paperwork to see Sheppard slouched in his doorway. Honestly, the man had to have some kind of spinal deformity. "Got a minute? I mean," he hesitated, "can I come in?"

Jack waved vaguely in the direction of the chairs he'd been told were in the office. "If you can find a chair, pull it up."

Sheppard glanced around and decided to slouch slightly inside the door, against the wall. Jack raised an eyebrow when Sheppard just stood there, fidgeting.

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" he asked after a moment. It was probably the most respectfully Jack had ever heard him say anything. He rolled his eyes.

"Permission is automatically granted to pretty much anyone who crosses the doorstop," he replied. "Consider yourself in that group. What's up, Major?"

Sheppard quirked a funny little half-grin, one corner of his mouth rising for a second before settling down again. "I might be reconsidering my assignment choice."

"Little late for that," Jack reasoned, sitting back in his chair. "Dial-out's in about an hour. It would be hell to get your checked baggage off the plane at this point."

"I think that Colonel Sumner and I are going to… butt heads," Sheppard said delicately. "I'm supposed to be his XO, but I'm pretty sure he hates me."

"He might not be a fan," Jack acknowledged. "I take it he's talked to you?"

Sheppard raised an eyebrow. "Talk might be overstating our little exchange."

Jack frowned. Sumner, he was realizing, made him use up his daily frown quota pretty early in the morning. "What did he say?"

"That he'd shoot me if I 'pulled another stunt like that,'" Sheppard replied blandly. "He looked pretty serious about it."

Jack blinked. "He actually said that?"

"Yes, sir. Quote, I will shoot you if you pull another stunt like that, unquote."

"Well, damn." Apparently Sumner had some insubordination issues lurking as well. Even to an officer below him in the chain of command, stuff like that could get the man a Conduct Unbecoming. "Look, Sheppard, it's too late to back out of this now, and besides, Weir likes you more than Sumner hates you." Jack raised a hand when Sheppard opened his mouth. "I'll talk to him again, okay?"

Sheppard nodded and un-slouched a little as he stepped away from the wall. "I appreciate that, sir." He tossed off a salute that had even Jack wincing and left the office.

Jack stood and sighed. He'd definitely be glad to have the pair of them off his base, his planet, out of his galaxy.

-0-

"Sumner!"

Jack was using his command voice again. The man's head snapped up across the room as Jack walked in.

"General," he said, standing ramrod straight.

"We talked about this," Jack said, crisp and efficient. "You're stuck with him, and you need to find a way to work with him. Threatening to shoot him probably isn't the best way of getting him to respect you."

Sumner's face reddened and Jack almost bit his tongue. Sumner would be sure to use Sheppard's little tattle session as – well, as just that. "You should really learn to dress your men down where there aren't security cameras, too," he added, covering Sheppard's ass in this mess. Sumner's face turned even redder and Jack mentally patted himself on the back.

"Look, he's a good guy, a good officer," Jack said, sighing. "He could surprise you."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Sumner responded immediately. "I'm not much for surprises."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Then this might be the wrong assignment for you, Colonel."

"That's not what I meant," Sumner backtracked. "I don't like it when I can't rely on the men I have to rely on. Sheppard's a wild card, some sort of rogue who's only going to go along with my orders for as long as he agrees with them. I don't need some maverick thinking that orders don't apply to him, especially not as my second in command."

"Did you read the file?" Jack asked pointedly, losing his patience. "The whole thing, not just the highlighted parts?" He continued right over Sumner's protestations. "The incident in question – yeah, he disobeyed direct orders, and no, his gamble didn't pay off. But if you could look at it objectively, you'd also take into account that those orders were bullshit anyway, and Sheppard was the only one with balls enough to stand up to them and do what was right!"

Jack hadn't realized his own thoughts on the subject until he'd verbalized them, but he knew as soon as the words left his mouth that he agreed with them. "He's exactly the kind of man you need as your XO out there in Nowhereville, Sumner," he continued. "You need someone who will go along with your good ideas, but who's also not afraid to call you on your own bullshit. Sheppard's your guy."

Sumner stood at parade rest, absolutely silent as Jack finished his unplanned monologue. They stood in silence for a moment before Sumner spoke, still looking straight ahead.

"If those are my orders, sir."

"They are," Jack confirmed, not backing down. Sumner nodded and saluted, again with sarcasm and a little bit of hatred, maybe, just below the surface, and turned to leave.

"Colonel," Jack called just as Sumner reached the doorway. "I'm not going to be happy if I hear that you shot him."

"We'll both try to keep the shooting to a minimum, sir," Sumner ground out, and left.


End file.
